Lost Culture: The Case With The Ancient Incans

Artifacts can tell us a lot about a lost culture, one piece of information can reveal many things about that culture. This is the case with the Ancient Incans and their quipus. The quipus from first glance may seem like a bunch a strings with random knots in it, but this is not the case.
The quipus were used for many things, mainly to keep records. Because the quipus were used for recording things, this suggests that they had some mathematical intelligence. Being able to devise a system where you can track and record all kinds of data suggests this. “Researchers have long had a basic understanding of the numerical system incorporated in the quipus, where knots represent numbers and the relation between knots and strings can represent mathematical
operations, like addition and subtraction (Neuman).” This shows that they tracked things so that they knew what they had and what they didn’t.
According to William Neuman’s article we know for sure that they used the quipus as a way to keep track of certain types of food that were traded, specifically peanuts, chili peppers, beans and corn. We also think that they were used as a way to justify land ownerships, but are not one-hundred percent sure about that.
Although the quipus seem to have been quite useful, there were probably many limitations to the use of them. Because they were made of wool and string, I think that they must have frayed and worn out, and I wonder if that affected the records in any way. The also had certain places for each knot, and if the knot got put in the wrong place, then that must have affected the records too. So I think that the quipus were a good idea, however I think that they weren’t always one-hundred percent accurate and had some limitations to them.